Friday, August 16, 2013

FACT-CHECKING

SNOPES is safe.This
thread on the blog is about fact-checking what the Bible says.To be more exact, it’s about fact-checking
the urban legends about the Pentateuch, which from now on I’m going to call
Torah because later I will use Pentateuch for something specific and different.

You know what an urban legend is.It’s something somebody tells you and you
don’t know where they got it.

You’re going to object: But A said that University X did a
study on it.

The last time I heard that one, first I googled with no
result, and then I went to SNOPES.They
had a topic on that exact subject referring to that exact university.IT WAS FALSE.

My motto for 30 years has been QUESTION AUTHORITY.

It doesn’t matter who says it.It might not be true.There are lots of reasons for that, but what
it comes down to is, unless you know information, first-hand, for yourself,
from the same material the speaker is using, you are hearing an urban
legend.People cannot keep themselves
from adding to, subtracting from, or otherwise changing what they have heard
when they pass it on.Toward the end of
this part of the blog, I will show how and why that happens, but don’t place
blame.You do it too.You’re human, that’s how I know.

So I gave you some links at the end of the previous post that
will help you become an authority.They’re
at the bottom of this post too.Then when
you’re an authority, you can QUESTION ME!!

But you’re going to question me before you become an authority.I know you are.I know that, because you’ve been hearing the
urban legends and now you’re questioning them.And instead of becoming an authority before this, you’re coming to
somebody else who, by definition, is going to give you more urban legends.

Don’t get discouraged.What I’m going to try to teach you with these posts is basic principles
behind being an authority.When you
think you get it, you can take off on your own and work out your own answers
and then you can come back and QUESTION ME!!

Both for now and also for then, here is what I expect when
you QUESTION ME!!

You have to provide me with your sources.Otherwise you’re just spreading more urban
legends.Not just the name of the book
and its author, but all the information that led you to accept that it wasn’t
just another urban legend.

That includes why your source doesn’t use fallacies.

I’ve told a rabbi, a very learned man, and now I’m telling
you.The single thing that supports
urban legends best is fallacies.And
understanding Torah always – ALWAYS – suffers from accepting fallacies.The biggest fallacy in the bunch is called
quoting out of context, and in the next post in this thread I’ll show why it’s
the biggest fallacy in the bunch.

If you don't have a Bible and don't read Hebrew, you can go
here and get a copy in English.